then you have met my brother. He is Hank Hill. Down to the hair cut and beer drinking and the "Dang it, son!"

He recently lost the glasses when he got his eyes lasered, though.

We use the grill mostly in the summer, and when we want something cooked properly. I've got an electric stove, which I hate, having had a gas stove at our other house. I want to see that flame when I'm cooking! Dang it!

Mr. Eruvande built a stone fire pit that we use for the briskets. Here at the edge of the Texas Hill Country, there is plenty of stone to go around.

I am SMAUG! I kill when I wish! I am strong, strong, STRONG! My armor is like tenfold shields! My teeth like swords! My claws, spears! The shock of my tail, a thunderbolt! My wings, a hurricane! And my breath, death!

I do like to use black beans, though, I've found them to digest rather nicely, unlike baked pea-beans. But I won't use red kidney beans, don't know why but I've always had an aversion to them... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd not grilled outside for a couple of months (I don't like to stand out in the cold...) but the temperature reached a very unseasonable 58F and I decided to grill steak tips. I made oven-fried "french fries" and nuked some mixed veggies to serve with it.

Simmered ham hocks for a few hours; strained the broth; reserved the meat; sauteed carrots & onions; added leafy celery, thyme, pepper, salt (the ham hocks were curiously un-salty), bay leaves, rinsed split peas and broth; simmered for another hour or so; added the reserved ham back in; and then it was done and tasty! Very handy on a cold, cold day.

Oh, we also have leftover homemade chili, spaghetti, and Papa Murphy's pizza (it was a difficult day) in the fridge. And I just pulled a heap of Girl Scout cookies and homemade lemon bread out of the freezer - we're getting a new one tomorrow. I should probably get the banana bread and a loaf of the gingerbread out, too...

We like to bake. A lot. Especially my mom and my Hobbit; it's very sweet, watching my son and my mother in the kitchen. And then he pushes every last one of her buttons. sigh. Walk to Rivendell: There and Back Again Challenge - traveling through Middle Earth with thirteen rowdy Dwarves, one grumpy Wizard, and a beleaguered Hobbit

I cheat and make the sauce by dumping a load of cardamom (both ground & seeds) into a container of Tuscan Tomato Bisque from Safeway (Von's, to some of you), and adding a bit of cream at the end. Better than any tikka masala sauce I've found to buy, and easier than making it from scratch.

I was reading one of my mother's Cooks magazines and they had an article about how to bake chicken so it doesn't come out rubbery. Their advice is to buy whole breasts with the bones still in and the skin on, rub them with salt, stick a pat of butter under the skin, and cook them in a 450 oven on a roasting rack in a pan so that the heat gets under them, for 40 minutes. I tried it and it was the best chicken I've ever cooked, juicy and tender. No more expensive boneless, skinless chicken for me! The way we imagine our lives is the way we are going to go on living our lives.

I used to buy jarred Tikka Masala sauce (my local supermarkets have it, as does Trader Joe's). But last week, I started to sautee up the diced chicken, went to the cabinet to start simmering the sauce and realized...I was out! And I had nothing else I could quickly make. So I went to this recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/curry-stand-chicken-tikka-masala-sauce/

and ignored all of its time instructions. Just heated the spices with onion in the ghee (those that I had, I did not have them all on hand, about 2/3 I would say), added tomato sauce, added chicken when it was mostly cooked, added cream in the end, and took about 20 minutes to get onto the table. I thought it was pretty good; my son was definite that it was far better than the jarred stuff.

One of my projects for this weekend will be to take all the spices called for in the recipe above and combine them in the correct proportions in a jar so I would not need to measure them out separately next time I make this.

Whatever type of diet you've embarked on, though, there have to be recipes that exist that comply with it, whether its salads and low-fat dishes with veggies, more whole grains, lower carbs, or what have you. I'm personally currently on a diet that's low in carbs and it's been an education, and sort of fun, to learn new recipes. I had lots of pasta recipes and loved to bake pizza, now I've learned lots of veggie side-dishes I never knew how to make, and varied ways to prepare meat and seafood. And invented things that help when I am craving specific things I used to like but am trying to avoid...

Tonight's dinner will be tilapia. I sprinkle it in lemon-pepper seasoning and pan-fry it in coconut oil until it is a little golden-brown around the edges. I'll make a salad for me and rice and peas for the kiddos (who have no need to lose weight).